Fullmetal Alchemist: A World Apart
by TwilightSeraphim
Summary: Edward Elric has finally found a foolproof way of returning his brother's body to its normal state, or so he thinks! In a freak alchemic accident, he gets transmuted into our modern world, and chaos ensues! I DO NOT OWN FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST! EdxOC UPDATED!
1. Alchemy gone wrong AGAIN

Full Metal Alchemist: A World Apart

"Let's see... A little tweak here, alter that line there..."

Edward Elric was busily at work, drawing something on the stone floor beneath him. To the untrained eye, it just looked like random scribbles on the floor. But to Ed, however, it looked like the solution to all of his problems! The young alchemist had been secretly working on the project for many months, away from the prying eyes of the State Military and that annoying Colonel Mustang. Not even Alphonse, Ed's younger brother, knew about it! Ed carefully moved the chalk across the stone floor, forming the symbols needed to create his experiment. Filling in the last line, Ed stared at the result as he wiped the excess chalk off of his gloved hands. "Finally..." he sighed, "It's complete!" His face clouded over as he recalled to purpose of this creation. "All this time of searching for a way to return things to the way they were... After so many years, Al will have his body back!"

Placing his hands on the edge of the circle, he breathed a sigh of hope. "Please, please let this work... for my brother's sake..." he quietly murmured.

Alchemic energy surged from the young man's body and into the circle, charging it with power. Small bolts of electricity crackled and sparked in response to the reaction, their light making shadows dance about Edward's nervous face. The young man slowly smiled in anticipation. Any moment now, it was going to happen. Just a little bit longer...

But nothing came. Ed's golden eyes squinted in confusion when his circle failed to produce any effect. "What's going on?" he wondered. "This circle can't fail, I made sure of that! But then what..."

The young man sucked in his breath in horror at what his sight revealed to him. Part of the circle had not been filled in properly. "No way!" he cried. "This can't be happening... Damn it, I have to stop the transmutation, before it's too late!"

Ed frantically tried to cut off the energy flowing into the circle, but to no avail. The circle's energy was out of control, compacting upon itself in surges of purple light. Suddenly, a rift appeared in the floor, and a great wind swept about the room, mercilessly pulling every object close to it into its depths. The young man cried out in fear as the wind screamed in his ears, dragging him ever closer to the void. "No, this can't be happening! Al... ALPHONSE!!!"

Ed reached out to grab something, but he was seconds too late. His gloved hands scrapped uselessly against the cold floor, failing to grip anything, the fabric ripping as it dragged along the hard ground. Time seemed to go in slow motion in those final seconds. His vision was surrounded by crackling electricity, and his entire body became engulfed by purple mist. Excruciating pain wracked his whole body, threatening to consume him. The last thing the young man heard were his own anguished screams before the peace of unconsciousness claimed him...

The dark portal whipped along at staggering speeds, tossing the unconscious Edward all around the void. The force of his tumbling forced him awake, but when the young man attempted to open his eyes, he had to close them again because of the speed of his transportation. _Well, at least I'm not dead,_ he thought. Clutching his stomach, he attempted to calm down his churning intestines. _Ugh... I think I'm going to be sick... Why can't this thing just dump me out somewhere?!_

A few seconds later, Ed got his wish, and he flew out of the rift at high speed. The young man blinked in surprise at his immediate departure from the void. _What the- I guess you really do get answers to your wishes! _he pondered

However, he failed to notice his impending destination beneath him. The new situation made Ed glance below him, only to make him cry out in surprise:

He was soaring through the air, with absolutely no protection whatsoever, over a god damn lake.

Yep, he was sooo screwed...

The young man sweatdropped as he registered what was about to happen. "Aw shit!!"

Ed peddled his legs in midair, trying to move away from the body of water beneath him. But at that moment, gravity kicked in, and the alchemist plummeted towards the water.

_Splash!_

Luckily for Ed, he managed to perform a pencil dive into the water before impact, preventing damage to himself. The bad part was that he ended up a couple dozen feet below the surface of the lake, and was steadily sinking deeper. The waterlogged alchemist mentally smacked himself in the face for his stupidity. _God damn wishes always have to have a drawback, huh?_ He stared at the steadily fading light above him, frantically trying to come up with some kind of idea, any kind of idea, to get himself out of this mess. _Now would be a good time to know how to swim... _he thought.

Ed attempted to move his arms and legs and swim up to the surface, but they moved in a slow, creaky motion, only hindering his progress further. He mentally cursed in frustration at his own incompetence. _My automail limbs aren't moving as well as they did on land! Damn it, they must be slowed down by the water!_

His lungs began to sting with the effort to hold his breath, air bubbles beginning to escape his mouth with fatigue. _Getting harder to hold my breath... Is this- is this the end?_

The mental image of his younger brother appeared in his mind, as if to tell him that giving up wasn't an option. Ed's eyes narrowed with newfound determination, gazing with conviction at what little light that could still be seen. _No... _he forcefully told himself. _I'm not going to die here, not after all that Al and I have been through together! _He clapped his left hand against his artificial one, starting a familiar alchemic reaction. _I-will-LIVE!!!_

In a last ditch attempt to save himself, Ed used the last of his energy to transmute the rocky bottom of the lake into a pillar. The growing structure caught up with him and brought him up to the surface, just before his lungs were about to give out from exhaustion. The young man's head broke through the water's surface, his breath coming out in ragged breaths. Ed gratefully filled his lungs with precious oxygen, his body lying useless on the damp stone, too tired to move. "I made it... I'm alive!" He weakly turned his head towards the sun's rays, gazing at the sky with relief. "I won't give up... not until Alphonse is back to normal..."

Ed's sight slowly began to blur, black spots appearing before his half-open eyes. "Al... thank you..."

The young man's body finally gave in, and his head fell gently to the side, the comforting darkness claiming his mind...

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"Hey kid, you alright?!"

A blurry face faded in and out of Ed's focus, indistinguishable in his current state. The young man's mind reeled in confusion, frantically searching it for some explanation. _What happened?! _he thought. _Why is everything so blurry?_

"He's awake!" a male voice said. A strong hand placed itself on his shoulder, giving him support. "Come on kid, snap out of it!"

The face seemed to stay in focus this time, though it was still blurry. An older man's face leaned over his, worry etched into his expression. "Are you alright?" he asked the disoriented Ed. "I thought that I lost you for a moment..."

Ed gave the man a weak grin, lifting his gloved hand to give him a thumbs-up. "Yeah, I'm okay, but my vision seems to be blurry..."

The stranger chuckled at Ed's obvious remark. "That's because you've got water on your face! Here, let me get that for you..."

A rough, yet gentle hand ran over his face wiping away the water that clouded the young man's vision. Now that the water was gone, Ed was able to see clearly. Looking around, he realized that he was in some type of vehicle. _Probably an ambulance..._ he thought. _They seem to be trustworthy, but I shouldn't let my guard down._

The doctor leaned towards him, holding a hand to the teenagers back to help him sit up. "What's your name, kid?"

Ed snapped out of his thoughts, trying to look like he had been paying attention. "I'm Edward Elric, sir."

The man smiled in reply. "Good to meet you Edward!" He grabbed the young man by his arm and hoisted him off the floor of the vehicle. This surprised Ed a bit. For an older man, he sure was strong! Taking careful steps, the doctor led Ed over to a gurney, and the young man sat down at the doctor's bidding. "Thanks..." Ed sighed. "I guess you found me at the lake, right?"

He got a nod in reply. "Yep, that was me! If you had been out on that lake for much longer, you could've went into shock and died, Edward. It's a good thing that I found you in time!"

The young man clapped the doctor on the shoulder in thanks. "Much appreciated, doctor!"

The man turned away for a second, emerging a second later with a small tool in his hand. "I'm going to have to test your joints for problems." he said. "No objections, I hope?"

"Nope." replied the young man.

The doctor hit the tool against his joints, checking to see if anything was wrong.

_Thump. Thump._

Ed let his mind wander a bit, contemplating the situation. _Things seem to be going very well here... _he thought.

_CLANK!_

The young man tensed at the familiar sound. His eyes grew wide as he realized one important thing he had forgotten about: his metal limbs. _Oh great..._ he mentally groaned. _On second thought, maybe not!_

The doctor stared at the spot where the tool had hit with a confused expression on his face. "That can't be right..." he murmured. Raising the tool again, he brought it down on Ed's left leg once again, only to be greeted with the same reverberating _clank_ that echoed throughout the vehicle.

The young man frantically leaped off of the gurney, trying to escape the doctor. However, the man managed to grab hold of Ed's sleeve. The force of Ed's frantic pulling and the doctor's grip caused the fabric to rip, exposing the metal limb beneath it. Ed quickly tried to hide his arm in his shirt, but the damage was done.

The astonished doctor simply stared in awe at the prosthetic limb that the young man sported, trying to process all of what just happened. "Your arm... your leg, they're machines!"

Ed yanked his arm free of the doctor's grip and backed away towards the back of the vehicle, planning an impromptu escape plan. He looked at the doctor with an apologetic glance. "I know that you saved my life, but I have to do this." The young man formed a fist with his metal fingers, preparing to act on his plan. "Sorry about this doctor, but it's for your own good. Bye..."

With one swift punch to the man's temple, the doctor was lying on the floor, out cold. Ed whipped around and jumped out of the back door of the vehicle, rolling to cushion his fall as he hit the ground. Once he stopped moving, he got up and looked back to where the vehicle had driven off to. "Damn it... Can anything go right for once?" he whispered.

Turning in another direction, he set off towards the closest building in sight, hoping that it would provide him some answers as to where he was, and if he would have any chance of going home.

"Guys, this is really stupid. We could get into really big trouble for this-"

"Oh shut up, Sam. This is probably the most fun we've had in months here, so don't spoil it for us!"

"Yeah, and I have some major info on you, so don't be surprised if I use it against you!"

But Jill, Gabrielle doesn't want to do this… right?"

"Hell yeah, I do!"

"But-"

"SHUT UP!!!" The other two bellowed as loud as they dared to.

Three teenage girls made their way down the deserted hallway, trying not to attract any attention to them as they snuck around the school. So far though, things weren't going as planned. Since Sam forgot the large amounts of silly string needed for the prank in her locker, the group had to rush over there and get the damn stuff! This only made the other girls even more frustrated at her.

"For the love of God, Sam…" Jill whispered, "why did you have to forget all of this in your locker?!"

The said teenager sighed in response. "I didn't think we would need it until after school. You guys know I never go to my locker during the day!"

"Sam, just be quiet, sneak into Mr. Utter's office, and cover it with silly string!"

Sam sighed in defeat. "Fine…"

As Sam and Jill snuck into the principal's office, Gabrielle stood outside the door and kept watch. She yawned loudly as the minutes slowly inched by. Taking out her pocket watch, she checked the time, only to groan in impatience. "When are those guys going to get out of there? I'm bored…"

_Step-CLANK. Step-CLANK._

Gabrielle tensed at the sudden noise. "Who's there?! Come out, now!"

The noise slowly grew louder, approaching the teenager with caution. A shadow appeared on the floor, extending with every step…

_Step-CLANK. Step-CLANK._

And then, the actual form of the person became visible. There was one key feature about the person that made her eyes widen in surprise:

A pair of bright, golden eyes stared intently at her.

The word caught in Gabrielle's throat, barely even squeaking out. "Holy crap- Guys… Now would be a good time to come out here!!"

Scuffling noises were heard and the other two girls ran out of the office. Sam noticed something was weird immediately and walked over to Gabrielle, who was currently immobile from shock. "Uh… Gabrielle? OY, WAKE UP!!!"

Nothing.

Jill then came out of the office, punching the air in a private victory dance. "Man, the whole room is covered in silly string! AWSOME!!!"

After a few seconds of silence, she finally noticed what was happening, or lack of that, rather. "Sam, what's going on?"

"I have no idea." Sam replied, waving a hand in her friends face. "She won't move!"

Gabrielle finally managed to choke out her words. "Guys, take a look over there and tell me if I'm going crazy…"

Sam and Jill followed her stare with curious eyes. Sam jaw dropped in shock as she recognized the person standing in front of them, apparently not noticing his exposed metal arm.. "You- you're- ugh…."

The group, including the newcomer, just stared as the teenager crumpled to the floor. With a small exclamation, the figure rushed over and knelt at her side. Seeing that she was alright, he looked up at the other girls in confusion. "Can some PLEASE tell me what the hell is going on?!"


	2. Where the hell am I!

(Author's Note: Hi there! just to let you know, there might be some bloopers in this chappie, like miss-spelled words and crap like that. Please review to let me know, okay? I like some input every now and then! Now, on with the fanfic!) Oh, and also... **I DON'T OWN FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST!!!**

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Sam and Jill followed her stare with curious eyes. Sam jaw dropped in shock as she recognized the person standing in front of them, apparently not noticing his exposed metal arm.. "You- you're- ugh…."

The group, including the newcomer, just stared as the teenager crumpled to the floor. With a small exclamation, the figure rushed over and knelt at her side. Seeing that she was alright, he looked up at the other girls in confusion. "Can some PLEASE tell me what the hell is going on?!"

Jill sweatdropped at the newcomer's reaction. "This one fainted at the sight of you, and Gabrielle is currently in a mental shutdown." The girl grabbed Ed's wrist and pulled him up from her friend's side. She gestured to her comatose friend who was currently staring into space behind her. "I need to hit Gabrielle here to make her snap out of it. Can you pick up Sam?"

The alchemist raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Who?"

_Oh boy. _"The one on the floor, shorty."

Twitch

_Three, two, one..._

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT AN AMEOBA CAN'T SEE HIM, YOU JERK?!"

Jill ignored him and then proceeded to hit her friend over the head.

_Clunk._

"OW!" Gabrielle was back to normal, but she wasn't too happy about being waked over the head. "What the fuck was that for, Jill?!"

The said teenager smiled as her pissed-off friend cursed in pain. "Good, you're not dead to the world." she said. Pointing to the confused alchemist behind her, she continued, "I don't think we need any introductions, do we?"

Gabrielle flashed the young man a grin and nodded. "Nah, we're good!"

Ed just stood there, totally clueless to what was going on between the two girls. _I'm not even going to ask..._ _Oh crap, I forgot about my arm again!_

The young man quickly tried to cover up his arm, but to his surprise, one of the girls stopped, took Sam's coat, which was on the floor, and gave it to him. "It's okay." she said. "Put this on. It'll cover your arm."

The alchemist stared at the girl in surprise, unsure. "You don't think that my arm is... well, weird?"

Jill shook her head, her blue and gold-flecked eyes sparkling with amusement. "No, not really!" She turned to her friend on the ground and knelt by her side. "Besides, there are weirder things in this world than a metal limb." Looking up at the young man again, she smiled. "You don't mind picking up Sam here, right? You look pretty strong."

Ed let out a small chuckle as he remembered the forgotten girl lying on the ground. "Sure." Picking up her limp body, he was surprised when she barely weighed anything at all to him. "Wow, she's pretty light!"

Gabrielle nodded at the young man's comment. "Yeah, she tends to get that a lot." She turned to Jill, who was carefully closing to the door of the principal's office. "Remember when her ex-boyfriend tried to pick her up, but ended up dropping her in the snow?"

Jill laughed out loud, remembering the moment. "Yeah, Sam was so mad that she started chasing the poor idiot around the parking lot!" Checking her watch, the girl's eyes widened as she realized what time it was. "Oh crap, the principal's going to be back soon! We'd better go somewhere safe..."

And them a miracle happened: a light bulb went off in someone's head, FINALLY...

Gabrielle let out a cry of realization as she figured out a good place. "I know! We can hide in the auditorium across the street! No one but the janitor ever goes in there, and we won't have people dropping in on us every second."

Ed nodded and started off. "Alright, let's go!"

Jill and Gabrielle sweatdropped as the alchemist started walking off in no particular direction. "Uh Ed..." Jill muttered. "It's that way..."

The young man sweatdropped as well, realizing that he had no clue where he was going. "Oh, right..." He turned back to the two girls, shifting Sam into a more comfortable position in his arms. "So, where are we going?"

If it was possible, Jill and Gabrielle would have face faulted right at that moment. _Oh boy..._ Jill thought. _We have a lot of work to do..._

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Taking the lead, Gabrielle led the group outside and over to the auditorium. "You might want to watch your step out here." Gabrielle said. "It's a little windy out today!"

As if on cue, a gust of wind rushed at Ed, causing him to stop in his tracks. _Man, she wasn't kidding!_ he thought. But at that moment, he felt a strange moment near his chest area. _Huh? What was that?_

Sam had shivered in the cold, moving closer to Ed in her sleep for warmth.

The young man tried hard not to show his embarrasment as he started walking again. He caught up to the two girls and rushed into the building in front of them, grateful for the shelter from the cold. "Thanks for holding the door open." he said to Gabrielle. "I wouldn't have been able to open it while holding Sam here. That is her name, right?"

The girl sighed and nodded. "Yep, that's her name." She turned to her friend, rubbing her arms for warmth. "How long do you think it'll take for the principal to realize what we did to his office?"

"I'll bet only a few seconds, once he opens the door, that is!" the girl replied, grinning at the imagined scene.

Ed chuckled at her comment. "What exactly did you do to his office?"

"We covered it with silly string." she replied.

That was when the dam broke, and both girls burst out laughing. Ed just looked at them with a confused look on his face. "What's silly string?"

"Silly string is a sticky substance that sprays out of a can, but in the form of string." Gabrielle managed to say between fits of laughter. "I don't really know what it's made out of, though, but it's great for practical jokes!"

The young man nodded, a grin making its way across his face. "I still don't really get it, but thanks."

Both of them grinned in return. "No problem!" Jill replied. She looked over to her friend in Ed's arms. "Man, she's been out for a very long time." she said. "When do you think she'll wake up?"

The other girl only shrugged. "I don't know. I think that this is the first time she's ever fainted!"

"Ugh... What happened? Wait a minute... HOLY CRAP, YOU'RE EDWARD ELRIC!!!"

Poor Ed, who was still holding the formerly unconscious girl nearly dropped her in surprise when she shouted out that random comment, not noticing the use of his name. "What the heck?! Oh, you're awake now!"

The excited girl continued to freak out. "Oh-my-GOD! It's you-it's really you!!!"

The other two girls face faulted at their excited friend's outbursts. _We all know that already..._ Jill mentally groaned.

Ed tried to calm the hyper girl down, but without success. "Hey, settle down!" he pleaded. "I'm going to put you down, so please, calm down for crying out loud!" He placed the girl feet first on the floor, and she took in deep breathes, staring into his gold eyes. But then she said the worst possible comment she would ever say:

"Wow, you really are short!" she said with a chuckle.

A vein popped out of the alchemist's head when he heard that one. "WHY YOU LITTLE- mphh!"

Sam had covered his mouth with her hand. "Ssh... Please don't freak out, because I didn't mean it that way." She removed her hand and smiled at him again. "I like you being short!"

Ed did a double-take in surprise. "Wait..." he said in disbelief. "So you like me being short?"

"Yup!" the girl replied.

The young man's jaw dropped in shock. ."Huh?!" he cried out in disbelief. Noticing that he was staring at her, he quickly regained his composure, trying to not look embarrassed. "Oh, okay... Thanks!"

The teenager gave a small laugh in reply. "It's no big deal!" Realizing what she just said, she sweatdropped at her own mistake. "Wow, that was a really bad pun, wasn't it?" Getting off that topic, she held out her right hand to Ed. "I'm Samantha Bushman, Sam for short."

The young man grinned and shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Sam." He pointed over his shoulder at her other friends, who were still standing separate from the two of them. "Who are those two?" he asked.

The one with brown hair and blue and gold-flecked eyes held out her hand to the alchemist. "I'm Jill Banks."

The other girl with brownish-black hair and hazel eyes grinned and laughed. "And I'm Gabrielle Chenet. Nice to meet you too, Ed!"

The said young man shook each of their hands as well. "Thanks." He replied. But he stopped mid-smile as he realized what Gabrielle just said. "Wait a minute... How did you know my name?" he asked suspiciously.

The other girls turned to the said teenager and yelled at her as one. "GABRIELLE!"

The sweatdropping girl smiled sheepishly and smacked herself in the forehead. "Oh shit..." she muttered.

Jill pulled a book from the bag that was over her shoulder and tossed it at the unsuspecting girl. "You are such an idiot, you know that?!" she yelled.

Gabrielle ducked and taunted the girl as the book sailed over her head. "Ha hah, you missed!"

_Thunk!_

The jeering girl was hit straight in the face with a second flying object. "OW!" She rubbed her forehead, a vain popping out of her head in annoyance. "Damn it, Jill, cut the crap!"

Ed flinched and stepped back, looking for an escape route. "How long do you give them before all hell breaks lose?" he asked Sam, who was also looking nervous.

She looked at him with a sideways glance, warning him of the impending fight. "Three, two, one..."

At that moment, everything went into total chaos. Ed and Sam dove behind a row of auditorium seats for dear life, ducking to avoid the random objects that Jill was throwing at her opponent. The young man peeked out from behind their shelter, only to move back as a ruler nearly hit him in the eye. "Are they always like this?" he yelled over all the commotion to the girl next to him.

Sam sweatdropped and nodded. "Usually they just yell at each other," she said, "but the flying objects are a new occurrence!"

As if on cue, a binder soared over the row of seats and hit the girl square on the head. She cried out in pain and yelled out to her friend from behind the barricade. "Oy, Jill, keep us out of this, will you?! I still want to be alive by the time I get home!"

Ed chuckled at the angry expression on her face. "Well, at least it wasn't me this time." He rubbed the back of his head, remembering how Winry attacked him when she found out that his automail was broken again. _I still have the mark where she hit me with her new wrench..._

Sam laughed at the sheepish look on his face and gestured to the two girls, who were still going at it in the fight. "Wanna break up those two?" she said.

He gave her a grin. "Why wouldn't I?" Ed clapped his hands together, preparing for the surprise attack. "You probably don't know about what I'm about to do, but I'm going to use it anyway!"

One second later, Ed slammed his palms onto the floor, starting an alchemic reaction. Bolts of light crackled around them, and fists composed of cement rose up and wrapped themselves around the two fighting teenagers, causing them to yelp in surprise. "What the heck?!" Jill yelled. "Ed! No fair using alchemy on us!!"

The young man blinked in surprise at her response. "On second thought, maybe you do..." He turned to Sam while the other two girls struggled to get free of their restraints. "An explanation would be nice: right now." he said.

Sam sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll explain everything in time, Ed." She pointed at her friends in the cement. "But for now, can you release 'Dumb' and 'Dumber' over there?"

"HEY!!!"

The young man laughed and clapped his hands again. "Sure, just give me a second."

With another alchemic reaction, the two cement fists crumbled into dust, freeing their pissed-off captives. "What the hell was that for, Sam?!" Jill yelled. "You barely know the guy for a few minutes-"

"I am not dumb, Sam!" Gabrielle yelled over her.

"Quit interrupting, Gabrielle!" Jill shouted. "As I was saying-"

"EVERYONE BE QUIET!!!"

All the yelling suddenly stopped, leaving that one loud phrase to echo in the room. Sam was on her feet, looking like she was ready to explode. Ed just stared at her in shock. _Appearances can be deceiving..._ he thought. _And I thought she was a calm person!_

Sam stepped up to the silent girls, continuing her rant. "Listen up, you guys. Since school is going to be over in about 10 seconds, you should go home. I'll stay with Ed and explain to him what's going on here."

"What?!" the teenagers yelled. "How come you get to stay with Ed?!"

_BEEEEEEP!!!_

Jill sighed as the final bell of the day rang, right on cue. "Fine," she sighed, "you can stay with him today, but Gabrielle and I get to show him around school tomorrow." She held out her hand in compromise. "Deal?"

Sam nodded in agreement. "Deal!"

The other two teenagers picked up their stuff, mostly Jill's scattered attack items, and left, leaving Ed and Sam alone in the auditorium. The two of them looked at each other, aware of the awkward silence, but unwilling to break it. Seeing that the silence wasn't getting them anywhere, Ed spoke up. "So..." he muttered. "Where exactly am I?"

Sam chuckled. "You don't know where you are?" Seeing Ed shake his head, she continued. "I guess that's to be expected." The girl went over to a seat and sat down, patting the one next to her. "Come on, sit down."

The young man complied, and Sam continued with her explanation. "You're in the state of New Jersey, which is in the United States of America."

The alchemist only stared at her blankly in confusion. "Huh? What, or should I say where the heck is that?!"

"It's a country." The girl replied. "There are many countries here, and probably thousands of spoken languages as well!"

Ed had to hold his head to stop it from aching from trying to process so much information. "Okay, now I'm even more confused!" he groaned. Looking Sam straight in the eye, he asked her the question he had been avoiding for a while now. "Can you tell me today's date?"

The girl's brown eyes sparked with realization. _So, _she thought,_ he knows that he's not in the same place he was in before... Very perceptive. _Taking a deep breath, she continued, fearful of his reaction. "It's January 11th, 2007, Ed."

Meanwhile, outside the auditorium, Jill and Gabrielle were slowly, very slowly walking down the hallway, trying to catch onto the conversation between Ed and Sam. Gabrielle sighed as she strained to hear the conversation. "Do you think she needs our help?" she asked her friend, who had her ear pressed against the door.

Jill shook her head, trying to tell Gabrielle to stop talking. "Shut up, I'm trying to hear..."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 2007?!"

Jill pulled her head away from the door in pain, clutching her ear. "Want to run before she come looking for us?" she asked Gabrielle.

"Hell yeah!"

And with that, the two girls turned tail and ran away as fast as they could.


	3. YOU'RE DRIVING LIKE A MADMAN, MRS B!

Ed had to hold his head to stop it from aching from trying to process so much information. "Okay, now I'm even more confused!" he groaned. Looking Sam straight in the eye, he asked her the question he had been avoiding for a while now. "Can you tell me today's date?"

The girl's hazel eyes sparked with realization. _So, _she thought,_ he knows that he's not in the same place he was in before... Very perceptive. _Taking a deep breath, she continued, fearful of his reaction. "It's January 11th, 2007, Ed."

Meanwhile, outside the auditorium, Jill and Gabrielle were slowly, very slowly walking down the hallway, trying to catch onto the conversation between Ed and Sam. Gabrielle sighed as she strained to hear the conversation. "Do you think she needs our help?" she asked her friend, who had her ear pressed against the door.

Jill shook her head, trying to tell Gabrielle to stop talking. "Shut up, I'm trying to hear..."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 2007?!"

Jill pulled her head away from the door in pain, clutching her ear. "Want to run before she come looking for us?" she asked Gabrielle.

"Hell yeah!"

And with that, the two girls turned tail and ran away as fast as they could.

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Poor Ed slumped over in his seat, trying to comprehend what Sam just said to him. "How can it be 2007?!" he whispered in shock. "I'm not even in the same place I was in... I'm also in a different time! He swept a shaking hand through his bangs, thinking things over. "But how can that be?" he wondered. "The last thing I remember was the portal, but my mistake should have cost me a price. Why didn't I appear before the Gate like last time?"

The young man caught a glimpse of auburn colored hair before he was pulled around to face his companion. "Wait a minute," she interrupted, "what portal?"

Ed sighed in frustration as he tried to make her understand. "The portal that brought me here; damn it!"

The teenage girl nodded slowly, a look of great concern appearing on her face. "Go on, Ed..." she said. "Tell me what happened."

Ed's eyes darkened as he recalled all that he could think of about the incident. "Alright..."

**Flashback**

**I was making a transmutation circle in order to get my brother's body back. I knew that what I was attempting could end in disaster, but I had to... Because of that promise I made to him five years ago. I made a promise to do whatever it took to get his body back, no matter what! Even if it cost me my own... An eye for an eye, a life for a life...**

Ed's gloved hand carefully drew in the lines of his transmutation circle, not knowing the horror that was about to happen.

**I truly thought that I had the solution right in front of me. All those times before, the answer had eluded me, slipping out of my grasp. I got so close! But, like all those times before, once again, I was wrong...**

"It won't stop! Damn it, I have to get out of here!"

**But when the wind picked up, and I was being dragged towards the portal that I had created, I knew the truth. What I had done, what I had attempted had been in vain. I realized that I might never see my brother ever again. I would never hear his voice, or even get to see him in the flesh with my own eyes. No, that hope for a normal life would be gone, just like me...**

"Al! ALPHONSE!!!"

**The pain that I endured... No one on the face of this Earth should have to suffer what I did. The pain from all those years ago was nothing compared to what I felt at that moment. It felt as if my entire body was aflame, searing and burning it to no end. I wanted to die; I wanted to shout it out so that the entire world would know of my suffering. But no, the cruel thing I have come to know as Fate had other plans for me... The excruciating, blinding torture continued, until I could stand it no longer. The last thing I heard were my own screams, before the darkness claimed me...**

**End Flashback**

The young man gripped the armrest of his chair tightly, threatening to spit it asunder with the force he was putting on it. His hands shook in fear, making a metallic clicking sound against the chair. The eyes that were once filled with life were now dull in comparison, with no flame of hope in them at all. "That is all I can remember of that moment." he said with unsteady breath. "That damned portal tore my life to bits..." He hung his head in grief as he realized the consequences of his actions. "Alphonse... my little brother will never get his body back... I'll never get to see his face again, or see his smile. He won't even have any family left to care for him now!" The armrest shattered in his metal hands grip, scattering all over the floor. "DAMN IT, WHY DID THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN?!"

At that point, all of Ed's mental barriers came crashing down, and the young man began to sob in his grief over all that he had lost. Tears of frustration and anguish poured from his eyes, making the world blurry and distorted. Pitiful gasps tore from the young man's throat, forcing him to put a gloved hand to his mouth to muffle them. "Not again," he whispered in a shaking voice, "not again..."

(Author's Note: BEWARE!!! THE ANGST APPROACHES!!!)

A soft, consoling voice brought him out of his misery, piercing his mind. "Don't worry, Edward... Ssh... Everything is going to be alright..."

Ed was immediately wrapped in a warm embrace, comforting him in his sorrow. Slender hands gently wiped the tears from his shaking face, lightly brushing his tear-stained cheeks. The young man hung limp in his companion's arms, too saddened by his predicament to move. The girl sat him upright in the chair, taking a white handkerchief from the pocket of her jeans. "Come on," she insisted, "dry your face."

The young man's face flushed considerably. "What?!" he muttered hurriedly. "No, I'm fine!" Seeing the look of skepticism on Sam's face, he straightened up, attempting to look normal. "Seriously, I'm okay!"

The girl sighed as she shoved the handkerchief into his gloved hands. "Too stubborn to take a hankie from a girl?" she stated with a glare. Noticing the look of anxiousness in Ed's eyes, a grin of mirth crossed her face, making her eyes squint in glee. "Or maybe you're just too embarrassed!" she exclaimed in triumph.

The said man's face became so flushed that you would've thought that he could have passed for a tomato. "No!" he yelped in a strained voice.

His companion laughed in satisfaction at the mortified expression on Ed's face. "Relax, I'm just kidding!" she insisted. Standing up, the girl offered an open hand to the young man. "Are you coming?"

Ed stared at her outstretched hand for a moment, contemplating his options. "Are you really going to help me?" he asked cautiously.

"Why wouldn't I?" she responded. "That's just the kind of person that I am!"

A small grin spread across the alchemist's face as he heard those words. "I'll have to take your word for it!" he said slyly. Taking her hand, he hoisted himself to his feet, glad to be off to a good start. Ed smiled sheepishly as they began to walk out of the auditorium. "Sorry about having to borrow your jacket..." he muttered.

The girl just stared at him, clueless as to what he was talking about. "You borrowed my jacket?" she said. She walked along, thinking about what he just said, until realization dawned on her, FINALLY... "Oh, that's why that jacket looked so familiar!" she exclaimed in wonder, earning a face fault from her friend.

Ed sighed in annoyance at her delayed reaction. _At last, she finally gets it... _he thought as he continued walking. _She really needs to look around more often..._

Sam tugged on his arm, urging him to move faster. "Come on, Ed, move it or lose it!"

Now it was Ed's turn to be confused. "What?" he questioned.

The girl sighed in frustration. "Never mind..."

The two teenagers walked out of the auditorium, their footsteps fading as they went further and further away. However, Ed saw it fit to make one last comment:

"So... How tall are you, Sam?"

"I'm about 5 feet, 6 inches tall… I think…" she replied.

The immediate shout was so loud that it scared the nearby perched birds into flying away. "What?! You're the shortest girl that I've ever met, and you still beat me?! Jeez, what to I have to do to get some height around here?!"

"It's called a growth spurt, shortstack..."

"WHAT?! WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT HE WOULD NEED A LADDER TO TOUCH A GRASSHOPPER'S HEAD?!"

_Thunk_

"OW! WHAT THE FU-"

"Ed, just shut up! And by the way, Jill's even shorter than me, you know."

Satisfied with ruining the moment, the two fighting teenagers left, leaving any misgivings behind them.

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"Wow, your story is so cool! I wish I could do alchemy!"

"Really? I'm surprised!"

Ed and Sam were walking through the heavy winds, sharing their thoughts about the current situation and the interest in alchemy that they shared. Ed's face brightened when Sam started expressing her interest in wanting to learn alchemy. "It's strange..." he contemplated. "I know so little about you, but you know so much about me!" He turned his gaze towards her, peering at her with curious eyes. "How do you-"

_Ring!!! Ring!!!_

The unsuspecting young man jumped a mile at the sudden noise, letting out a yelp in surprise. "What the hell was that-!?"

_Ring!!! Ring!!!_

The young man whipped around, searching for the source of the mysterious sound. "There it goes again!" he said, pointing in no particular direction. Feeling a movement near his waist, he looked down, only to see Sam digging through the pocket of her jacket that Ed was wearing. He yanked on the coat, trying to get the girl's hands away from him. "Hey, let go of me! You can't just go around digging in other people's pockets like that!"

"Since it's my jacket anyway, that doesn't count, dumbass!"

The ringing continued, annoying both teenagers to no end. Sam cursed in frustration, continuing to search through her coat. "Damn it, where is that thing?" Pulling out a slender metallic looking object, she let out a sigh of triumph. "Got it!" Flipping it open, the ringing ceased, and Sam, strangely enough to Ed, started talking to the thing! "Hello?" she answered.

A voice emitted from the device, causing Edward's jaw to drop in shock. "Hi there, honey!" the voice cheerily replied.

The young man's eyes bugged out of his head when he realized what the device was. "That's a telephone?!" he exclaimed, pointing in shock at the object in question. "But it doesn't have any cords!" Prodding it with his finger, he examined the object, baffled at its compact size. "And it's so tiny..."

The voice emitted from the phone once again, which Ed recognized as belonging to an older female. "Sam, who's the other person?" the woman asked.

Both Ed and Sam let out yelps of surprise. _She heard me?!_ Ed though furiously.

Sam, on the other hand, was trying to cover up Ed's comments. "It's nothing-er- no one Mom!"

The voice was silent for a moment, but then shot back with a sound of satisfaction in her voice. "He's your boyfriend, isn't he Sam?"

The two teenagers turned bright red at that comment. Ed managed to splutter out a few words. "NO I'M NOT!" he shouted into the phone.

The voice laughed as she heard Ed's protests over the device. "Relax, I don't mind!" she said. "Do you want to come over the house for the night?" she asked the embarrassed teen.

Ed turned even redder and protested. "Sorry, but I have things to do- mmph!"

Sam covered his mouth and spoke into the phone. "He'd love to Mom! When can you pick us up?"

"Already done, honey!"

Sam had a confused expression on her face. "Huh? What in the world is she-"

_BEEP BEEP!!!_

A car horn sounded loudly, causing both of the teenagers to jump a few feet into the air. Sam sweatdropped as she spotted her mother waving from a nearby vehicle. "I should've known..." she said with a groan.

Ed turned to Sam and stared at her in confusion. "Why am I staying with you?" he asked.

"Do you plan on sleeping outside the school?"

The young man sweatdropped at the obvious answer. "Good point..."

Sam's mom honked the car horn again, jarring them from their thoughts. "Come on kids! Get in!"

Sam and Ed hurried over and piled into the back of the car. The older woman looked back between the seats, checking to see if the two were ready. "You guys ready?" she asked.

Sam nodded; having a bad feeling about what was coming next. "Yeah…"

One second later, Sam's mom had floored the gas pedal and sped off, causing poor Ed to hold onto the seatbelt for dear life. Making a hairpin turn onto the road, she took off, horns blaring at her the whole way.

Poor Edward let out a yelp of surprise and held onto the armrest as if his life depended on it, trying not to slam into Sam as gravity took affect when Mrs. Bushman swung the car around an intersection, barely missing another driver. "Hey Sam," he said to his companion, feeling a bit queasy, "just how fast does your mother drive usually?"

She just raised an eyebrow, observing his panicked features, such as the armrest ready to split under his grip. "Oh I don't know..." she replied nonchalantly. "Most of the time the car can gun it to around 90 miles per hour, but Mom keeps on trying to break that record."

Ed nearly doubled over as he heard that. "What?!" he managed to choke out. Holding onto his stomach, the poor alchemist had to hold back the wave of nausea that rose up. "It's official..." he muttered. "I'm going to die right here, right now!"

Mrs. Bushman took that moment to speed down a long stretch of roadway, barreling past a police car, who fortunately was busy with a drunken driver on the side of the road. "Hold on tight kids!" she said excitedly. "There's still a while to go yet!"

Poor Ed just sat there, praying to whatever could be up there in the heavens to make his eminent death quick and painless. _Why me?_

Luckily for the sick alchemist, they pulled into Sam's driveway soon after two near accidents and several swearing drivers. It was such a terrible ride that the young man almost, almost found a god to thank for saving him from a painful death. Practically slamming the passenger side door open, Ed tumbled out of the vehicle, falling face flat onto the gravel path. "Land..." he sighed as he hugged the ground, "Glorious land!"

Sam calmly stepped out of the car, eying Ed strangely as she witnessed him kissing the ground in happiness. "Ed" she urged, "get a hold of yourself!"

Mrs. B got out of the car and stood at the teenager's side, wiping her brow to clear it of any dirtiness. Peering down at the rejoicing teen, she merely raised an eyebrow. "Wow, you can't even take a fast drive down to the house?" she pondered. "I'm surprised you didn't have a panic attack!"

Sam hurriedly picked up Ed off the ground and dragged him towards the front door and ignored his protests. "Well we've got to go in and study, so bye Mom!"

And with that, she opened the door, and the two teenagers disappeared into the house.

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(Author's Note: WOW, my mom has some bad driving skills... Anyway, I hope that this chapter wasn't too angsty for you, and if it was, oops! Review please!)


	4. Angst, angst, and even more ANGST!

"What's this thing?"

"Wait Ed, don't touch that-"

_Fuishhh._

"OW!!!! Damnitdamnitdamnit!!!"

"Ugh... never mind..."

Sam groaned as the now pissed-off alchemist ran around the kitchen cursing in pain. It had only been ten minutes, and so far Ed managed to burn his left hand with the coffee maker, slam the refrigerator door into his face, and even trip over the family dog, stubbing his toes. The girl did the only thing that could relieve her stress at that point, and that was to bang her head on the dining room table.

_Bang!_

"Why me?"

_Bang!_

"Why does Ed have to be so stupid?!"

_Bang!_

"I-Hate-My-Life!!!"

With one final head butt to the poor table, Sam finally let go of all of her stress, even though it made her get a nasty headache in the process.

Ed stopped running around and stared at the girl with great interest. _She's going to have the mother of all headaches later on... _he pondered.

Sam rubbed her head to ease the pain and looked over at Ed. "Do you want to learn about some things that won't cause you physical injury?"

The alchemist nodded, cradling his slightly-burned left hand.

"Then come on," said Sam.

He followed Ed down the stairs and into a room with even more strange devices in it. He looked around, trying to figure out their use. "Are you sure none of this stuff is going to hurt me?" he asked as he prodded the box-like thing in front of him on the wall.

Sam lightly laughed. "Of course not, that is unless you were stupid enough to stick your finger in the electrical socket over there." She said as she pointed to it. "Come take a look at this, Ed. This one could be useful to you."

Ed walked over to what she was standing next to. Peering at it, he noted that it was also box-shaped, with a glass panel on the front, and some wires in the back of it connected it to another, taller box, which was narrower than the first. Noticing the keyboard, he prodded at it, looking at the letters and numbers on it with interest. "This reminds me of the typewriters that are used back home." he said quizzically. "What is it?"

Sam pressed a button on the taller box, making lights flash and the glass screen to light up. Different images appeared, with one like a flag with four different colors on it, and a little arrow appeared on the screen. "It's called a computer." She said as she logged on using the keyboard. "See how I'm using the keys on this keyboard to make the letters appear on that monitor? It's like a typewriter in that way, but we use electricity to power it." She opened up a program using the mouse and pointed at the screen. "This program allows you to type what you want on the screen, and then print it out on a piece of paper with ink."

Ed gazed at the computer in wonder, taking in all of the new knowledge in. "I see..." He muttered as he slowly punched in a couple of letters with the keyboard. "So I can use this to create messages?"

"Yup, whatever you want." Sam chirped. "And this..." she said while guiding the mouse over certain words like FILE and SAVE, "...is how you can save your document on the computer!" Clicking a word on the screen, the file was saved to the computer's memory.

"Oh..." Ed said. He pointed at the computer screen. "Hey, Sam." he said, "Since I have nothing else to do, can I experiment with this for a while? Maybe I'll be able to figure all this new stuff out."

"Sure." She said. She turned to the door and walked towards the doorway. "I'm going to help my mom with dinner, so you stay down here and try things out! But Ed," she sighed in a worried voice, "don't try to take anything apart, okay? This stuff is very expensive, and my mom wouldn't be very happy if it got broken..."

Ed laughed and grinned at her. "Don't worry..." he said as he sat down at the computer. "I'll be very careful!"

After Sam left the room, Ed faced the computer, trying to think of what he could do on the new machine. "Maybe I could make a journal out of this, and save the entries in here! That would be very useful..."

Moving over the different words on the tool bar, he found the NEW icon and clicked on it, bringing up a blank new document. "Now, let's see..." he muttered as he began to type...

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Journal # 1, January 11th, 2007

I can't believe I'm in the year 2007... It seems so weird to write- I mean type that. Not only that, but I'm in a completely different time period now, with no means of getting home! Well, I guess I'm going to have to stick it out here with Sam, Jill and Gabrielle until I can find a way back. Hmm... Maybe I should type a little about myself...

Name: Edward Elric.

Code Name: FullMetal Alchemist.

Age: 16 (NOT 12!!!)

Height: Well wouldn't you like to know?

Hair Color: Blond.

Eye Color: Gold. (Is that even a color?)

Wait a minute. This is ridiculous. I should be trying to find a way out of here, not typing on a stupid computer, or whatever this thing is!

Ugh... I really have a tendency to get myself into trouble, don't I? Getting into hijacked trains, fighting those damn Homunculi, and now this!

If Colonel "Flame-Ass" ever finds out about this, he'll incinerate me for sure...

I wonder how Alphonse is doing right now... Does he even know that I'm missing? How long will it take for the military to realize I'm gone? Days, or even weeks? Well, whatever happens, I hope that I'll find a way home, and soon... Man, Winry will never forgive me for this one...

Al, wherever you are, I hope that you're safe.

"Ed!" Mrs. Bushman called down the stairs. "Time for dinner!"

Ed looked up and looked at the time on the computer screen. "Wow, have I been down here that long?" he said. Shrugging, he got up and walked out of the room. "Oh well, at least I get to eat now. I'm starving!"

A wonder smell wafted through the air, and Ed sniffed at it. "Let's see if my nose is up to scratch!" he said while taking in the aroma. "No, it isn't beef... Maybe it's stew?"

"Or maybe it's Lemon-Almond Chicken?" someone replied.

Ed jumped and looked around and spotted Mrs. Bushman laughing in front of him. "Sorry to startle you, honey," she said, "but I came down to make sure that you heard the dinner call. We wouldn't to get there after it gets cold, would we?"

Ed nodded and walked to the dining room with the older woman, breathing in the scent of the delicious meal along the way. When they got there, Ed spotted an empty seat across from Sam, who was already there, and took his place. Mrs. Bushman went to the kitchen, reappearing with a dish full of the wonderful-smelling chicken. "Here it is, kids!" she chirped. She placed it in the center of the table, along with a bowl of mashed potatoes and a bowl of peas. "Dig in everyone! Eat it before it gets cold!"

Ed awkwardly sat in his seat. "Um, Mrs. Bushman, you didn't have to do this..." he mumbled. "I don't want to seem like I'm imposing on you to-"

Mrs. Bushman waved him off with a hand. "Don't be silly, dear. We can have you go hungry! After all, a growing man like you has to have a good, hearty meal!"

Sam nodded along with her mother. "Yeah, Ed, eat up! Mom's chicken recipe is famous in our family!"

Mrs. Bushman blushed and looked away. "Don't be silly, Sam, it's not like that!" She looked over at Ed, who hadn't put anything on his plate. "Don't worry about a thing, Edward. Just dig in!"

Ed sighed and nodded. "Thanks." He placed a little bit of everything on his plate and lifted is fork and knife. He chuckled a bit. "I don't even know where to start, which is a first for me!" he said.

"If phi wha foo, phi phood pwry pha frecken!" Sam mumbled through a mouthful of food.

Ed raised an eyebrow as Mrs. Bushman sighed. "Come again?"

Mrs. Bushman took on the job of translating Sam's garbled speech for him. "She said if she was you, she would try the chicken." She said with a sigh. She gave Sam a stern look, who was currently shoveling even more food into her mouth. "Honey, you know that I don't like it when you talk with food in your mouth..."

Sam slowly swallowed the large portion of food and looked at both of them sheepishly. "Sorry..." She muttered. Looking around, she spotted the mashed potatoes and spooned some of them onto her plate.

Ed tried hard not to laugh as Sam immediately started scarfing down the food again. "I've finally met someone with the same poor eating habits as I do..." he said. "My brother is always constantly telling me to slow down."

Mrs. Bushman looked up from her plate of food with interest. "You have an older brother?" she said with surprise.

Ed shook his head. "No, I have a younger brother." He snickered as he thought of how many times people mixed the two of them up. "People back home kept on thinking that Alphonse was me, because he acts more like the older brother!"

Mrs. Bushman made an "o" shape with her mouth, understanding what he meant. "What are your parents like Edward?"

(Authors Note: This next section is solely for the purpose of letting people know about the storyline of Fullmetal Alchemist, if they don't know it already. If you don't like long-winded explinations, you can just skip it, or you can read it for the hell of it. Well, here goes! Again, I don't own the original story plot!)

Ed looked down at his plate. "My father left us when Al and I were very young. Our mother..." Ed closed his eyes and replayed the memories in his mind, trying to remember all that he could about her. "Our mother was always kind. She was the type of person that would put others first, and herself last. Al and I loved her so much..." He opened his eyes again, but their usual light was gone now. "One day Al and I were returning home with some produce for Mother. But when we opened the door, we noticed that something was very wrong... Mother was lying on the floor, barely conscious. We immediately ran to get help, and the doctor came soon after. We thought we heard him talking with our neighbor, Auntie Pinako, about something, but we weren't sure. We just sat there beside Mother's bed, talking to her. Then she said something about our father leaving us some money before he left, and that she wanted us to use it to take care of each other. I told her that that was silly, and that we would use it to make her better..."

Sam was watching all of Ed's actions intently, noticing the pained look on his face. _Poor Edward... _she thought. _He has to relive all of these painful memories in front of us. It must be very hard for him..._

"But then she started to say something about Father..." Ed continued, his voice faltering a bit. "She asked me if I could make her something for her. She said a ring of flowers would be nice... She told us that our Father always made them for her, before he left... I could see the light fading from her eyes... And then her hand loosened in my grip..." Ed looked down even more, hiding his face. "We tried calling out to her. We wanted her to wake up; we wanted her to stay! But she never answered... Mother was gone."

Mrs. Bushman gasped and put a hand on his shoulder. "Oh, you poor thing! You're an orphan..."

Ed didn't look up, but Sam could tell that he was in emotional pain. "Ed... I'm so sorry, Ed..."

Ed looked up, his eyes shadowed. "There's more to it... Please, let me finish."

Mrs. Bushman nodded, but kept her hand on his shoulder. "Go on, dear. We're here for you."

Ed continued on. "After the funeral, my brother and I went away to study alchemy, the primary science in our homeland. We found ourselves a teacher, and over the course of six months, we learned about the real kind of alchemy. We were done making little toys and trinkets. When we came back, we secretly set up the transmutation, and when we were ready, we tried to do the unthinkable... We tried to bring back our mother..."

Mrs. Bushman looked at him with horror. "You did what? But... How can that be possible?"

Ed grimly looked at them. "It's possible through alchemy. But we failed to take into account one of the most basic laws of alchemy... Whatever you are trying to create, something of equal value must be lost. We were ignorant of that rule." Ed darkly chuckled. "We thought we didn't have anything to lose... But we were wrong..."

Ed looked down at his hands. "We activated the transmutation circle, and the light from it cast shadows all around the room. We thought that we did it, that we would have our mother once again. But then the circle's light turned a dark red, and we knew that something was wrong. Al looked at me with a scared look on his face. I looked around as the dark red light, getting a foreboding feeling inside of me. And then I heard my brother scream... Al was being dragged away toward this shining portal that had opened up in front of us, his body literally being broken down by the forces of alchemy. I reached out to him, but then I yelled out in pain. My left leg was being broken down as well. I tried to grab Al before he was taken through the portal, but it was too late. The last thing that I heard before losing consciousness… were Al's screams…"

"When I woke up, the lights had been blown out by the force of the transmutation, and I could barely see anything. I frantically looked around trying to find my brother. The only things left of him were his clothes, lying on the basement floor. I cried out in pain. My left leg was gone, with only a bloody stump left as a reminder. I wondered how this could have happened, and what went wrong. But then I heard a noise coming from the circle in front of me. I was weak from blood loss, but I cried out, asking if Mother was there. What I saw is something no person should ever have to see... A mass of organs and tissue lay pulsing on the floor. And then I saw the eyes... those ghastly eyes and the mouth of the monster my brother and I had created, gasping for air. My eyes widened, and I screamed. I had lost everything... My mother, my brother..."

Mrs. Bushman looked like she was about to faint on the spot. Sam, however, hung onto every word, a look of pity showing in her eyes.

"But then I thought of something that I could do. I realized that I could save my brother, before he was gone forever. I tipped over a large suit of armor that had been standing against the wall, making it fall to the floor. I didn't have anything else to use, so I use my own blood to paint transmutation circles at different points in my body. I would give up anything to have my brother... I didn't care if it took my own heart; I just wanted to have my brother back."

"I drew a circle inside the armor and placed my hands on it, starting the transmutation. I planned on saving my brother's soul before it was gone, and to bind it to the armor through the circle. Alphonse's soul would then use the armor as a body, and in a way, he'd be alive again. When the light died down, the armor sat up, showing me that Al was back and that the transmutation worked. But it had come with a price, as before. I had lost my right arm in order to bring my brother back. But to me, that was nothing. I would have given up my own life in order to save my brother!"

"And then Al saw me, kneeling on the ground. Though I was in more pain than I had ever been in my whole life, I managed to tell him that I was sorry for everything that had happened. He saw the monster lying in the circle and asked if Mother was alive. I told him no, and that he shouldn't look. I was trying to slow the blood flow by pressing my remaining hand against what was left of my other arm, but it wasn't working. Al then made some makeshift bandages from his clothes lying on the floor and picked me up in his arms, carrying me out of the house and over to Auntie Pinako's house. When he got to the door, Winry, Auntie's granddaughter, opened it. Apparently she had heard my scream from before and rushed downstairs to she what was wrong. She cried out when she saw us and asked if the seven foot suit of armor was really Alphonse. Al said yes, and then I lost consciousness."

"When I came to, I heard Winry and Pinako's voices, but I also heard a voice that I didn't recognize. I didn't move or make a sound, because I wanted to know who this new person was. He identified himself as a Lieutenant Colonel, named Roy Mustang, from our country's military, and also stated that he was a State Alchemist. Pinako said that she didn't want the military's 'dogs' in her house and ordered him to leave. He then said that she didn't have to worry, and that he was just checking the mail. Al and I had sent out letters in hopes of finding our father so that he would come home and help our mother before she died. Apparently one of those letters reached the Lieutenant Colonel, and he came to our town to investigate. He said that if two young boys could attempt what we had done and survive, then our father had dropped a rung on his priority list. Then he left, and said to contact him if we ever were interested in becoming State Alchemists. Hearing the door close, I knew he had left, so I eventually went to sleep, not wanting Auntie Pinako to know that I had heard everything that they had said."

"I woke up in the morning, and while she was changing my arm and leg bandages, I told Pinako that I wanted to become a State Alchemist. She said that she was hoping that I wasn't awake to hear that nonsense. But I kept on saying that I wanted to find a way to get Al and I back to normal, our bodies recovered. I also told her that there was some money that we had left and for her to take it as payment for automail prosthetics."

"Auntie Pinako had always worked on automail for people who had lost their limbs during the war that was going on at the time, so it was only reasonable for me to ask. I told her that I couldn't complete my mission lugging around a couple of stumps, so she reluctantly agreed, and I went through the automail surgery. It was one of the most painful things I've ever been through."

"After I was recovered and I could work the automail properly, Al and I left home. But before we left, we burned down the family home, so that we would always remind ourselves that some memories aren't meant to leave traces..."

Ed looked up and looked at the clock on the living room wall. He had been speaking for a little more than an hour. He looked back at Sam and Mrs. Bushman and sighed. "Well," he said, "that's everything from what happened that day. I was 12 when we left, and all, though you couldn't tell from the armor, was only 11. The rest is self-explanatory, I guess."

Mrs. Bushman numbly got up from the table. "I guess we should have some desert..." she mumbled. She went to the kitchen and got out some ice cream, placing it in three bowls. But when she came back, Sam and Ed had left. Sighing, she took out a spoon and started to eat some ice cream, a lone tear falling down her face. _Edward has been through more than all of us put together. We should do everything we can to make his stay here enjoyable. _She finished up her ice cream and went over to the sink and started to wash it. _Edward must really care for Alphonse if he was that willing to give up his own life to bring him back... _Putting the bowl away in the cabinet, she made her decision. _We can have Edward stay here for as long as he needs to. That will make it easier for him. _

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"Edward," Sam asked, "can I talk to you for a second?"

The young man nodded. "Sure."

The two teenagers were outside the guest bedroom, getting ready for bed. (One of the amusing things being that Sam had to tell Ed that you weren't supposed to eat the toothpaste after you brush your teeth.) She and Ed stepped into his room, and Sam closed the door behind them. They both sat on the bed, not saying anything.

"Well?" Edward prodded, "what did you want to talk to me about?"

Sam looked away in embarrassment. "Well... I was wondering, Ed, are you adjusting well here?"

Ed looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean by that?"

Sam sighed and explained. "Do you feel comfortable here, or do you feel out of place?"

Ed nodded, understanding her question. "I do feel a bit out of place because I don't know a lot about this technology that you have here in your world, but you and your friends have been very nice to me, so I think I'll be able to learn about it all and blend in!"

Sam laughed softly. "Don't worry about that, Ed. Just take it in one thing at a time." She looked at him and smiled, merriment showing in her eyes. "You'll get used to all of this very soon!"

Ed smiled in return and looked down. "Alright, Sam. Thanks!"

They sat there in awkward silence once again. Sam took in a deep breath and asked the question that was on her mind. "Hey Ed," she asked, "Do you need anything to keep your arm and leg warm at night? You know, since they're made out of metal?"

Ed shook his head. "Nah, I don't get cold because of my automail." He smiled again, looking into her brown eyes. "I'll be okay, Sam. You don't have to worry about me."

She nodded. "Sorry, it's just my nature... Can I see your hand?"

Ed looked at her, puzzled. "Sure..." he said, and he held out his left hand.

Sam shook her head. "Not that one," she said, pointing at it. She then pointed at his right hand, the one made out of metal. "I mean the automail one!"

Ed sweatdropped. "Please don't tell me that you're an automail freak like Winry..." he pleaded.

Sam laughed. "No, silly! I think that automail is cool, but I don't obsess over it!" She slowly slid the glove of his hand, revealing the metal underneath. "Wow... This is amazing..."

As she ran a finger over the shining metal, Ed felt a small jolt go through his body, and jumped away by instinct. Sam took her hand away and looked at him with concern. "What's wrong Ed?" she said as she saw him staring at his automail hand. "What happened?"

Ed looked up and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't really know, and I could be wrong... But for a small second there, I could have sworn I actually felt you touch my hand..." He shook his head though, dismissing the thought. "But automail isn't made to do that, so I guess I was imagining things..."

But as soon as he said that, he felt a stronger jolt, but then he realized it wasn't so much as a jolt, but instead it felt like a warm feeling spreading across his hand. "Sam... What's happening?" he asked, bewildered.

Looking up, he saw that Sam had taken his and in hers, and that she was looking at him with a strange gleam in her eyes. She placed his automail hand flat against hers. "Looks like we share some sort of connection, Edward." she pondered.

Ed simply stared at her, unsure of what she meant. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that we have a connection that surpasses that of our normal senses." She said. "Even though your automail can't feel normally, somehow it's happening now!" She looked at their interlocked hands, wondering what caused it. "But that doesn't make any sense..."

Ed shook his head, trying to sort things out. "Maybe we'll figure it out if we sleep on it..."

Sam reluctantly pulled her hand away from his, got up, and went to the doorway. "Goodnight Edward..." she whispered.

"Goodnight." He replied back.

After Sam had left the room, Ed got into bed and let out a big sigh. _What's going on with me? _He thought._ I feel like something's going to happen, but I don't know what... _He let out a soft sigh. _Damn it… Why can't things be easy for a change?_

Ed turned on his side and closed his eyes, falling into an uneasy sleep.


	5. WAKE UP, DAMMIT!

"Damn, that lock was hard to pick! What do they use to make them, steel?!"

"I honestly wouldn't be that surprised if they did, Sam."

"Who the hell cares about some stupid lock?! We need to make Ed some fake school records, post them on the computer, and haul our asses out of here before we get caught!"

"Gabbie, shut up... You're giving me a headache. Hey Sam, do you have a flashlight? I can't see an inch in front of my face."

The three girls were standing in the darkened guidance office at their school, tampering with the computer so that Ed would have a valid reason for being with them there the next day. Sam fumbled around in her bag, looking for the flashlight that was needed. Grasping it, she pulled it out and flicked the switch.

"OW, MY EYES!!!"

"Sam, would you point the flashlight over here and NOT at Gabrielle?!" Jill hissed.

Sam sweatdropped and moved the flashlight over to where the computer sat, relieving Gabbie of her temporary blindness. "Sorry Gabbie..." she muttered.

A low hum emitted from the computer as Jill turned on the screen and entered the school record files. "We're going to have to make up a new identity for Ed, since we can't risk someone recognizing his name. Any suggestions, guys?"

"Sasuke Uchiha!"

Jill groaned. "Please don't make him after an anime character, Gabbie..."

"How about Edward Heinrich?" Sam piped in. "We can pretend that he's Jill's cousin from her mother's side of the family in Germany."

Jill nodded and sighed. "Anything is better than Sasuke Uchiha for now..." She flexed her fingers and placed them on the keyboard, ready to type. "Let's get started!"

It was going to be a long night...

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"EDWARD ELRIC, GET YOUR BUTT OUT OF BED RIGHT NOW!" Sam yelled down the stairs. "WHE'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR THE BUS!!"

Meanwhile, said alchemist was lying in bed, still in dreamland. "No..." he mumbled, tossing his pillow on top of his head. "Five more minutes..."

"MOM," Sam yelled, "ED WON'T GET OUT OF BED!"

Mrs. Bushman sighed in annoyance. "Oh, for the love of god... Doesn't he know what an alarm clock is, Sam?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Apparently not..." she muttered to herself.

Mrs. Bushman shook her head and proceeded down the stairs to Ed's room. Upon opening the door, she was greeted with the sight of Ed, arms and legs spray-eagled about the bed, drooling on the pillow. "Wonderful..." she muttered. "Now I have to clean those sheets again..."

Sam stomped down the stairs, trying to figure out the cause of the problem. "What's taking so long?!" she exclaimed as she hurriedly pulled on her coat and gloves. She walked over to her mother's side and stood there, arms akimbo. "Can't you do anything to wake him up?" she said.

Her mother only shrugged. "I guess he's a very deep sleeper." She quipped, pushing her short blond bangs out of her eyes. "I've tried everything, but nothing seems to work..."

Sam groaned. "We'll never get to school on time with Ed around..." she mumbled.

But then, an idea flashed through her mind. The girl grinned evilly as she rubbed her gloved hands together. "Mom, I'm advising you to plug your ear's." She reached over and leaned next to Ed's ear, smirking. "It's going to get very loud pretty fast!"

Mrs. Bushman nodded and complied. Meanwhile, Sam leaned over Ed's head and whispered softly into his ear:

"Oh chibi-bean, it's time to wake up!"

The effect was instantaneous. Ed immediately bolted upright in bed, yelling his lungs out. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING CHIBI-BEAN, YOU OVERSIZED AMAZONIAN GIANT?!" he yelled.

Sam sat back and burst out laughing. Ed just looked around and stared at her, panting. "What the hell was that for?!" he whined.

Sam calmed down and smiled. "We needed to get you up for school, stupid!" She tapped her watch, indicating the time. "The bus arrives in five minutes!"

"WHAT?!"

Ed leaped out of bed, running out the back door and into the driveway.

Sam ran out as well, grabbing him by the shoulder. "Ed, wait! You forgot something!"

Ed groaned, his eyes clearly showing annoyance. "NOW WHAT?!" he exclaimed.

Sam smirked and pointed at his body. "You're still wearing your pajamas, idiot..."

The alchemist's face turned as red as a ripe tomato. "Aw man..." he groaned.

This was not turning out to be a good start for Edward Elric...

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(Author's Note: lol, poor Ed! Happy New Year, everyone! I'm posting this chapter at 12: 14 in the morning as a New Year's treat for all of you. Hope you enjoyed it, and have a great new year!)


	6. Zzzzzzzz WHAT THE HELL!

This was not turning out to be a good start for Edward Elric...

Dashing back into the house, the frantic alchemist zoomed into the kitchen to grab a piece of toast to eat on the bus, not noticing the trail of smoke rising from the metal contraption that the breakfast material was sitting in. Reaching out with his automail hand, he grasped the toast and started to pull it free, only to gasp as his wrist came into contact with the heated toaster. Yanking his hand back, Ed cursed in pain- Wait a minute. Pain?!

Ed looked down at his automail hand, his eyes widening. "What just happened?" he pondered in disbelief, cradling his stinging limb. He traced his metal finger over his other palm, immediately recognizing the sensation of touch coming from it. "I…I can feel again? But that's just impossible!"

Sam ran into the room and saw Ed standing there, gazing at his automail in wonder. "Ed?" she muttered, staring at him in confusion. "Ed, is something wrong?"

The young man shook his hand, smiling a little. "No, Sam. For once, something has finally gone right."

The girl rolled her eyes and threw some spare clothes at him. "That's great and all, Ed, but we really need to hurry up here!"

Ed made an exasperated groan as he ran into the bathroom and closed the door, changing into his new apparel. It wasn't that bad, considering the dumb uniforms that Amestris' military was forced to wear. He had dark blue jeans on, and a red shirt, which was long-sleeved to hide his auto mail, which had writing on it that said **"Call me chibi, I dare you!"** Over that, he had a sleeveless black shirt, which had his trademark flamel in red on the back of it, and white cotton gloves to match for his hands. On his feet were white sneakers, simple, but able to add another inch to his _slightly_ small frame. Since Sam had told him that wearing his hair in a braid would be a little weird in their time, Ed settled for replacing the look with a plain ponytail. Taking a quick look at himself in the mirror, Ed dashed out of the bathroom, grabbed his toast to eat on the way, and zoomed out the door, Sam right on his heels.

They made it just in time. Panting heavily, Ed clambered onto the bus, practically collapsing into the nearest empty seat. "Some start, huh?" he muttered, running his hand through his bangs.

Sam groaned in the seat across from him, jerking forward slightly as the bus started to move down the road again. Ed peered at her quizzically as her head started to fall to one side, her eyes closing a bit. "Hey, are you alright, Sam?" he asked. "You don't really look so good..."

The girl glared at him, dark lines evident under her eyes. "Well Ed, if you're snoring hadn't kept me up the entire night, then maybe I could've gotten some sleep!"

That was only half a lie on her part. She was up half the night getting Ed's school records in place with Gabbie and Jill, but when she snuck in and went to bed, the only thing that she 

could concentrate on was the volume of Ed's snoring. And seeing as he was sleeping all the way down the hallway in the spare bedroom, that was saying something.

"So, if you don't mind, would you please stop staring at me and take a look at your schedule for your days in utter hell?!" she growled, shoving a leaf of paper in his face.

"Okay, okay!" he exclaimed, snatching the paper out of her hand. "You don't have to snappy about it..."

Sussex County Technical School Daily Schedule

1st Period: English

2nd Period: Physical Education

"What the hell?!" Ed muttered, re-reading it to make sure he had read it correctly. "Why do I have to take that class?!"

"JUST SHUT UP AND FINISH READING!" Sam yelled, dropping her head into her arms again.

The young man cringed and went back to analyzing the list.

3rd Period: Science

4th Period: History

5th- 8th Period: Culinary Arts

Ed could only scratch his forehead in confusion at the last subject on the paper. What the heck was culinary supposed to mean? Oh well, he'd have to figure that out later. And when was lunch supposed to be? It didn't say anything about that, either...

Ed had been so absorbed in his thoughts on his subject list that he didn't notice that the bus had arrived at the school, the students starting to pick up their thing and exit the vehicle. Gathering up his bag of school supplies, he made his way to exit the bus before realizing that Sam wasn't behind him. Working his way back to the seat, he sighed as he stood over the sleeping girl. (Apparently she had fallen asleep in the middle of his grumbling over his schedule.) Sitting back down in the seat, he gently shook Sam's shoulder, trying to wake her up. "Sam? Hey, we're at the school… Time to get up!"

"Zzzzz…. No Mom, I don't want to feed the llamas…"

Ed sweatdropped and shook his head, leaning over Sam's face more as she snoozed on. "Ah Geez…" he muttered, staring at her sleeping form. Moving his automail hand over her face, he marveled at his newfound ability to feel in that appendage, recognizing the soft feel of a person's flesh.



Sam stirred underneath Ed's watchful gaze, blearily opening her eyes against the piercing glare of the sun streaming in from the window. "Wha…?" she mumbled, still not fully awake. "Ed, what's goin'- "

Snapping back into reality, the girl took in the sight of Ed's face inches away from hers, plus his gloved metal hand on her face, and took the only plausible course of action at the time.

Letting out a small yelp, she jumped up, knocking her head against his. The both of them groaned in pain, rubbing their aching heads, with a slight red tint gracing both of their faces. "Ed," she yelped, scrambling to grab her things, "what the hell were you thinking?!"

The young man scowled and cast her an annoyed look. "I should be asking you the same thing…" he said, standing up out of the seat. "But then again, I probably don't want to know."

"Hey, new kid, you're blocking the line!" an obnoxious voice called out from the back of the bus. "Quit trying to kiss Sleeping Beauty and get a move on!"

The effect was instantaneous. The two teenagers sprang apart with mortified looks on their faces, trying their hardest to avoid the other's gaze. Sam awkwardly cleared her throat and picked up her things. "Come on…" she said softly, her face obscured by her fallen hair. "Let's get out of here before anything else happens…"

"Hey, shrimp!" another voice jeered from directly behind the pair. "You're holding up the line. Move it!"

Ed froze and slowly turned around to face the unlucky name-caller, his eyes narrowed into deadly golden slits. "What did you just say?!" the young man hissed, his fists clenched tight at his side.

Sam sighed and plugged her ears. "Three… Two… One…" she counted under her breath, preparing for the onslaught.

The explosion of protests and vulgarities emitted from Ed's mouth caused everyone on the bus to cover their ears in pain. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO TINY THAT HE'S NO BIGGER THAN A SPECK OF DUST?!" he yelled. "I'M STILL GROWING, YOU FU- "

The sound of the bus horn blaring thankfully bleeped out the rest of Ed's profanities. But that didn't save the poor kid behind him from getting pummeled. But before Ed could finish the job, Sam yanked on his arm and pulled him into the school building, leaving the possibly scared for life teenager on the bus, twitching in fear behind them.


	7. Automail, School, and Stalkers, OH MY!

"Ed did WHAT?!"

Sam, Jill, and Gabrielle had met up in the school hallway, discussing the damage the young alchemist had made so far. Sam seemed to be on an endless tirade about the events that occurred on the bus, waving her arms around in order to demonstrate her emotions. "To put it bluntly, Ed woke me up, scared the crap out of me, and beat the living daylights out of some kid who called him short." She said, shaking her head. "Can't anything go normally for once?"

Gabbie interjected and grabbed her arms so that the girl wouldn't wail anyone in the face. "If you call having an anime character who isn't supposed to exist living in your house normal, than yes, I'd say that's normal."

Jill took her chance to but in as well. "I'll just bet you that you're too embarrassed to admit that you have certain feelings for our little Edo-cun, Sammi." she said, grinning as her friend's face turned a spectacular shade of crimson.

Sam shook her head frantically and backed away from them, afraid of their words. "No I don't!"

Gabbie snorted and grinned, enjoying the sight of her friend's obvious lie. "Sam, don't even bother trying to hide it. Your little crush on Ed is as plain as day; anyone who has half a brain could see that!"

The girl blushed even more as her friend began to sing the K-I-S-S-I-N-G song under her breath. "Please, just stop…" she protested, backing towards an adjacent hallway. "This isn't funny!"

When the two of them continued to sing along, Sam ran down the next hallway and disappeared out of sight, leaving two confused teens behind her.

Meanwhile, in another hallway, Ed was pacing up and down the corridor, cursing whoever made the daily schedule so confusing to read. "I swear if I ever find the person who put a dozen typos on this thing, they're going to wish they had another job!" he muttered, running his automail hand through this hair in frustration. "Where in the hell am I supposed to start?!"

As the young man was cursing his horrible luck, an obscured form peered out at him from behind a nearby corner. The boy in front of him certainly matched the description he remembered, that much was for sure, though his patience left something to be desired. True, his hair was longer that it was previously, and he had grown up somewhat, but he was still the ill-tempered child that he remembered. Letting out a sigh, the man moved to slip away, but dropped something out his pocket, causing the young teenager to look up abruptly in surprise.

Edward peered at the form of the person in front of him, his eyes narrowing considerably. "Who are you?" he demanded, moving into a defensive stance. "Why were you watching me just now?"

Realizing he had been caught, the man bolted in the opposite direction, disappearing from sight. Panting as he ran, he managed to outrun the teenager, forgetting that he had left something behind.

Coming to a stop at the once occupied corner, Ed bend down and picked up the fallen object, his eyes scanning over it numerous times. In his palm lay a pair of rectangular shaped glasses, well worn and used by the looks of it. Whoever owned them obviously needed to use them often. Grinning slightly, Ed pocketed the glasses and continued down the hallway, knowing that he'd run into the person sooner or later. If they couldn't see well that day, they'd be forced to come back looking for the glasses and Edward would finally know who was spying on him that day.

Things were finally starting to look up.

Whistling a cheery tune, Ed turned around the corner, only to come in contact with something rather solid that let out a small "eep" as it fell down. Blinking twice, Ed realized who it was he ran into and went to help her up, smiling sheepishly. "Hey there, Sam… Sorry about that!"

Sam jumped up and blushed profusely, not believing her horrible luck took her to this point. "Oh, hey there Ed…" she muttered, trying to calm down again, "how'd everything go so far?"

The alchemist scoffed and held up his schedule to her eye level. "This piece of crap schedule is leading me in circles, I still haven't found my locker, and some guy was spying on me from this corner a minute ago!"

The girl cringed and looked disgusted. "Eww…" she muttered, mentally imagining the scene. "Are you sure he wasn't some pedophile?"

Ed's eyes bugged out of his head and he shook his head furiously. "What the hell?! Sam, what made you think that?!"

"I don't know, you never know with people these days!" the teenager protested, waving her hands in the air for emphasis. "Other than a strange stalker following you, anything else?"

The young man nodded and removed his gloves, exposing his automail hand to the light. "Yeah… Something weird's going on with my arm and leg. I don't know if you noticed, but when I went to grab the toast this morning, I burned my hand."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, but what does this have to do with your metal arm?"

"It has everything to do with it, Sam." he interjected, holding up his hand. "I grabbed the toast with my _automail_ hand… and I felt the pain as it got burned! I can feel things with my metal limbs again!"

"What the heck?!" Sam exclaimed, prodding at the metal extremity. "So that's what the whole thing was about last night! But I still don't get it… Why would you be able to feel with them now, of all times? Why not earlier?"

The alchemist shook his head, not knowing what to say. "I haven't got a clue, but whatever it is; I'll bet it's got something to do with crossing over through the Gate…"

Sam nodded her head. "Come on, let's get going. All four of us share the same classes, thanks to Jill's hacking skills. We have to get a move on, or we'll be late!"

And so the day progressed. English was as monotonous as Ed thought it would be, with him thinking that this Shakespeare guy should just shut his trap his stuff was so boring. Physical Education wasn't any better. Luckily for Ed, they didn't have to change into their gym clothes that day, so the period was spent in roll call and learning the names of everyone else. Hoping that the next class wouldn't be as boring as the others, Ed and Sam, along with Gabbie and Jill, walked into Science class about 5 minutes early, taking whatever seats they could get close to one another.

The rest of the class was whispering to one another, nervous about what the class was going to be like. Filtering out their droning, Ed managed to get into a mental state of calmness before a sudden noise shook him out of his reverie.

The teacher had just collided with the doorframe, muttering curses as he rubbed his aching forehead. Feeling around for his desk, the middle aged man managed to sit down in his chair before setting down his suitcase, unlatching it and pulling out an attendance book. Frowning slightly, he held it farther away from his face, as if putting it better into focus.

Inwardly, Edward grinned in his mind. If his hunch was right, his mysterious stalker was sitting right in front of him.

Jackpot.

Nudging Sam in the ribs, Jill did a double take and pointed at the teacher. "Sam, does that man seem a little too familiar to you?" she hissed.

Sam took another look at the man in front of her. Blonde hair, golden eyes, golden beard… There was so mistaking it.

Hoenheim of Light was sitting in front of her. But one key feature about him was not there.

His small, rectangular glasses, that were normally perched on edge of his nose, were missing.


	8. Chemistry Stalker Teacher WTF!

Ed glanced down at the rectangular framed glasses clenched in his hand, a grin spreading across his face. Once the teacher had banged into the doorframe, it didn't take long for the young prodigy to put two and two together. Getting up, he strode confidently over to the desk and put the spectacles down with a loud smack, attracting the attention of the whole class. "You might be needing these." the alchemist said confidently, relishing in his moment of control. "Only a senile fool would leave something as important as these lying around in the hallway."

Van Hoenheim merely sighed and took the glasses, placing them back on his face. "Thank you for returning these," he said, taking out a slip of paper and scribbling something hastily on it, handing it to the young man in front of him. "And here is your detention slip for disrespecting a teacher."

Ed's face immediately reddened in anger. "What?! You can give me detention, you crazy old man!"

Hoenheim smiled slightly and nodded towards the alchemist's seat. "Better get back over there before it becomes two -" he muttered, peering down at the attendance roster before staring at the young man before him once more, "Mr. Elric."

Muttering obscenities under his breath, Ed stomped back over to his seat, earning a snicker from Gabbie.

Clearing his throat, Hoenheim stood up before the glass, tapping a piece of chalk in his fingers. "Welcome, students, to your first day of Chemistry. This class, contrary to popular gossip among the student body, is not what you call 'an easy A,' due to the last teacher's incompetence. It is in fact quite the opposite." Looking at several of the faces before him, he noticed many had gone from excited to downright scared in about five seconds. "Those of you who chose to take this course because your friends are here, you may leave and find another course to take. I only teach the students who are willing to work hard and learn, not to slack off and doodle in your notebooks… which I must remind you to stop doing immediately, Ms. Bushman."

Samantha blushed in embarrassment and hastily put away her notebook and pen.

The teacher merely nodded and continued. "As I have said before, this is not an easy class. If you are having second thoughts of taking this class, then you have my permission to leave. There is no need to stay in a course that you will not do your best in."

Accompanied by the scraping of chairs and desks, a little over half of the students left the room, leaving only the serious students, including Edward and the trio left seated.

"Well, now that we have separated the good grain from the bad, so to speak, we may begin." Van Hoenheim stated, pulling down a projector screen from the ceiling, containing the Periodic Table. "As you all may know, this is the Periodic Table of Elements, the most essential part of Chemistry. Without it, and knowing what it is, we would be lost in the ways of science. Now, who can tell me where Aluminum is located on this chart?"

Edward sighed and placed his hands behind his head, bored by the man's droning. "That would be **Al**, Atomic Number – 13, Electron Configuration 2-8-3, blah, blah, blah…" he muttered, yawning loudly. "Give us a real challenge, old man."

Hoenheim's eyes narrowed slightly, and continued on. "Gallium."

"**Ga**, Atomic Number - 31, Electron Configuration 2-8-18-3."

"Cerium."

"**Ce**, Atomic Number – 28, Configuration 2-8-19-9-2."

"…The components of the adult human body?" Hoenheim said darkly, earning a couple mind boggled looks from the students.

Taking a deep breath, Ed propped up his feet on his desk and started rattling off the entire list in a very bored fashion. "Water: 35 Liters. Carbon: 20 Kilograms. Ammonia: 4 Liters. Lime: 1.5 Kilograms. Phosphorus: 800 grams. Salt: 250 grams. Saltpeter: 100 grams. Sulfur: 80 grams. Fluorine: 7.5 grams. Iron: 5 grams. Silicon: 3 grams. And 15 other elements in small quantities... Is this the best you've got?" he questioned mockingly, his eyes glimmering in triumph.

The older man sighed and placed the piece of chalk back on the tray, not even flinching as the school bell rang. "Mr. Elric, please remain here. Everyone else, memorize the transition metals section of the Periodic Table by tomorrow. Class dismissed."

The rest of the class left the room, whispering softly on their way out. No doubt the events that had transpired would become the latest school gossip that day.

Walking over the door, the teacher closed it gently and locked it before turning to the young man before him, still lounging in his seat. "…You can only know that information if you have attempted the taboo…" the elder man pondered, sitting down at his desk. "Tell me, Mr. Elric, when did you see the Gate?"

Ed's eyes immediately fixed themselves on the elder man, boring into him with a glare of paranoia. "You know of the Gate? Why should I tell you? Who are you, old man, to have the nerve to ask that?" Frowning deeply, the young man sat up straighter, concentrating on his main goal. "Just who are you anyway, you overly nosy bastard?"

Hoenheim merely smiled softly and clapped his hands, placing them on the desk in front of him. "I'm surprised you don't remember me, Edward… But it has been over thirteen years after all…"

With a flash of light, the desk was transmuted into a wooden likeness of Trisha Elric, perfect to the last minute detail.

"…What brings you to this side of the gate…son?"


	9. The Bombshell Has Fallen

"…What brings you to this side of the gate…son?"

The second the words were out of his mouth, Ed's fist rose up to impact with his face. Ducking swiftly to dodge it, Hoenheim raised an eyebrow at the young man's actions. "Surely you can come up with a better greeting than that, Edward?" he mused.

"It would be more than you deserve, you bastard!" Ed hissed, settling for grabbing Hoenheim by collar and shoving him against the newly created statue of Trisha. "You left us! Mom was devastated, and she spent each day hoping that you would come home!"

Hoenheim blanched at the words. "It was impossible for me to stay there Edward - I couldn't stay there in the condition that I was in!"

The elder alchemist was rewarded with a well aimed punch to the nose, breaking his glasses. "I see you are not in the mood for a negotiation." Hoenheim deadpanned, taking off the shattered frames and fixing them with alchemy. "What made you so spiteful? You were much calmer when you were a boy."

Ed grunted and reluctantly let go of the man's shirt, frowning in disgust. "Did you think that everything would stay the same after you left? When you left, Mom changed… Each day Al and I would see her staring out at that road, but when she noticed we were there, she put on a smile and pretended that nothing was wrong. Each time we performed alchemy it was the same way… It reminded her of you. She spent each moment waiting for you!"

Hoenheim sighed and looked at the statue he had made of his wife. "I never meant to put her through that. Tell me Edward – how is she doing? Is Alphonse doing well also?"

The young man gave him a look that could kill, sending chills up his spine. "Mom got sick after you left… She tried to hide it from us, but one day Al and I found her collapsed on the floor. She only got worse after that, until she called us into her room one day. She told us about some money that she had saved up, and it was ours to use to take care of each other." Ed glared at his father, clenching his fists tightly.

Hoenheim stepped forward and placed his hand on Ed's shoulder. "Then she is alright then?"

Ed threw the man's hand off of his shoulder, shaking in anger. "Don't you get it? She died, you idiot! She died waiting for you to come back!"

The elder man froze as the words sunk in, his body going cold. "Trisha is dead? Edward, how long has she been gone?"

"Twelve years… She died when I was four years old, and Al was only three."

Hoenheim slowly leaned against the statue of Trisha, letting Ed's words sink in. "Twelve years?"

Ed chuckled grimly, causing Hoenheim look at him quizzically. "The story doesn't end there, old man. After mom passed away, Al and I found a teacher to instruct us in alchemy. You want to know how I first saw the Gate? It was when Al and I tried to bring Mom back to life!" Noticing Hoenheim's shocked glance, he continued on. "You heard me right, you bastard… We attempted the taboo! I lost my leg, and Al lost his entire body. I was able to attach his soul to a suit of armor, but I lost my arm in the process. I ended up on this side of the Gate trying to find a way to get Al's body back again."

The elder alchemist numbly shook his head in response. "And all of this because I left?"

Ed laughed darkly. "Pretty much, and I have the automail limbs to prove it."

Hoenheim took one look at Trisha's statue before transmuting it back into his teaching desk. "I'm sorry that my leaving has caused you this much suffering, but my reasons were what I thought was right at the time – "

Ed groaned in frustration and anger, punching the top of the desk and leaving a splintered dent in it with his automail fist. "What the hell was your reason for leaving? What was so bad that you had to leave us? Tell me that you bastard!"

Hoenheim gave no reply. Edward grunted and stalked towards the door, pausing at the entrance. "This isn't over, old man. I will get it out of you eventually."

As his son left the room and all was silent, Hoenheim pondered on his decision. Now was not the opportune time, but until then, all the alchemist could do was wait.

Looking out the window, Hoenheim silently mourned.


End file.
